This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to operating electronic devices to conduct mobile payment transactions.
Portable electronic devices such as cellular telephones are sometimes provided with near field communications (NFC) circuitry that allows the electronic devices to perform contactless proximity-based communications with a corresponding NFC reader. Oftentimes, the NFC circuitry in a user device is used to carry out financial transactions or other secure data transactions that require the user device to verify and access a commerce credential such as a credit card credential. The secure data that is necessary for performing such mobile financial transactions is typically stored on a secure element within an electronic device.
Consider a scenario in which the secure element stores secure data corresponding to a given credit card credential. The secure element should only output the secure data during an authorized mobile payment transaction. It may therefore be desirable to provide a way for the user to signal to the electronic device to temporarily activate the secure element during a transaction at a point-of-sale terminal.